Word: warrens
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Warren S. Josephy
...enforcement officials and thus do not complain about their plight. "Just to let you know how common all this is," says Rob Williams, an attorney with Florida Rural Legal Services, "there are 5,000 farm-labor contractors in the state of Florida, and about 100 are like Willie Warren...
Prosecutors in the most recent Warren case convinced the jury that they were dealing with a more subtle form of slavery than the whips and chains of 130 years ago. Testimony showed that the Warrens held their workers in thrall through intimidation and threats of beatings. When the fearful and credulous workers were told they could not leave the labor camps because they owed the Warrens money, most believed it and stayed. Some workers who tried to leave were brought back...
Williams, a leading spokesman for migrant workers in Florida, charges that federal authorities took strong action against the Warrens only after the death of the farm worker in North Carolina. Indeed, Labor Department records show that it began receiving complaints about Willie Warren Sr.'s treatment of migrants as early as 1973, but took little action...
...witness dilemma is also the Justice Department's highest hurdle. "The problems confronting enforcement are staggering," says Tampa-based U.S. Attorney Robert Merkle, who brought the charges in the most recent Warren case. "People held in these conditions are physically and psychologically coerced. They are reluctant, unwilling witnesses. They live in a constant position of intimidation. These people are de facto slaves. And we are beyond the point where we can tolerate having slaves in our society...